The Emerald Ballroom in a hotel on Barlow Trail begins filling with prospective taxi drivers well before noon on Oct. 29, the day of the taxi-licence random selection. In September, Calgary city council approved 383 new licenses, and 126 are up for grabs.

Close to a few hundred men are here to see if it’s their lucky day, and it will take luck: 1,711 drivers applied for 112 regular licences and 235 applied for 14 accessible licences.

Wearing a pink-and-burgundy dress that’s saved for special occasions, nine-year-old Amin Shaheen is here as her dad’s good-luck charm. Twenty-seven-year-old Amrinder Singh, who says his number is “700-something,” brought along his friend and fellow cabbie, Bikram Waraich.

The group of men stand several metres back from the podium as Spencer Villam, a Taxi and Limousine Advisory Committee (TLAC) member, draws the numbers from two gold drums: “164, 1404, 1674, 624…”

“16”, Villam reads.

Sixteen is Tujuba Roro’s number. He reacts, but not with the shouts, fist-pumps and high-fives you might expect from someone whose life has just veered in a particular direction. “That’s mine,” he says quietly, and shakes a friend’s hand. He beams as he makes back-to-back phone calls.

“I’m happy, very happy,” Roro says to me in a small break between calls. He’ll talk to his wife later, he says, because she lives in Europe. “I expected it. I prayed for it,” says the 31-year-old Ethiopian-born Pentecostal Christian. “God did it for me. God knows what I want.

“It’s my year,” he adds. He became a husband in May, a Canadian citizen in September, and now a taxi driver, as long as he meets the eligibility requirements. His new career will help him bring his wife to Canada.

I relay Roro’s story to Marcia Andreychuk, TLAC’s business analyst, and her face lights up. She told me beforehand that these draws are “bittersweet” because of the disappointment for many and the elation for so few.

Those who’ve received a licence today might help alleviate some of the taxi shortage on Friday and Saturday nights. But Andreychuk says riders can do their part, too. For example, they could use a designated driver. “You don’t expect to be able to get a hotel room during Stampede,” she says.

Plus, riders should call only one company for a ride. No-trips (when a cab arrives for a pick-up and there’s no one waiting) tie up taxis needlessly. She also says that using a cab company’s app is better than phoning dispatch because customers never get a busy signal.

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Luck of the Draw: 1,711 drivers hope for a taxi licence through the lottery

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